Chapter 457

Yao Shou Shijie.

A deep mountain old pool three hundred li outside Yun Chou Mountain.

Here the spiritual qi is thick, the vegetation lush, a waterfall falling down like a silver silk ribbon unceasing, dense water mist intertwining with ethereal spiritual mist.

In the depths of that old pool.

A huge black turtle sleeps within it.

And not far beneath its riverbed, within a space that has been opened up, a great change is taking place.

「Zi zi, zi zi—」

Within the small space fills with extremely thick black mist, as if something inside is writhing, struggling, coiling, accompanied by faint sounds.

If one looks closely, one can discover.

In that thick mist there is a faintly visible shadow, like a long snake or a centipede, sometimes swelling to several zhang in length, sometimes shrinking to the thickness of a hair.

【I don't know, after the Corpse Soul Gu advances, whether I can drive that Yuan tribe's corpse】

Not to mention the Corpse Soul Gu; even with the Heavenly Corpse Gu's ability, it might not be able to drive it, otherwise it wouldn't have so easily let Yunhe take it away.

After the Cultivator Body breaks through to mid Nascent Soul, the Demon Beast Body's cultivation base rises sharply; estimating that after a while, his three demon cores will be filled with demonic power, at which point the Demon Beast Body will break through to mid Fourth Level.

Thanks to his deep cultivation in this method, the entry speed into the fifth layer of the Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Art is much faster than he imagined.

Another strand of divine sense extends out.

Now the Demon Beast Body also dares not move recklessly.

However, as Yunhe sitting cross-legged on the pure white lotus opens his eyes, the substantiated weapon dissipates into nothing.

Gulu gulu—

Moreover.

This requires the Cultivator Body to strive.

【If it really doesn't work, the last resort can also be to refine it into a magical treasure.】

With the previous Corpse Soul Gu's ability, it simply cannot be driven.

As for the corpse of that fifth-level Yuan beast, Yunhe has never figured out how to use it.

Therefore, he can only temporarily place it here.

The Demon Beast Body mostly continues training step by step.

A domineering divine sense suddenly sweeps out, striking the previously hidden formation like a terrifying wave.

Hum—

Yunhe lightly exhales, his eyes shining as bright as two lamps in the night, gleaming.

The formation ripples with waves.

However, that divine sense is quickly brought under control, instantly retracting into Yunhe's body.

The next moment.

For the Corpse Soul Gu, merely devouring the Heavenly Corpse Gu's body is already extremely taxing; adding the Heavenly Gu Old Ancestor's soul and a remnant soul of the Heavenly Corpse Gu makes the pressure too great for it.

However, the situation in Yun Chou Mountain is too complicated, and entering the Heavenly Pool within is not easy.

The huge black turtle opens its eyes, its palm lightly resting on the membrane of the opened-up space.

【It's still a bit strained; we need to keep feeding the Nurture Gu Pill.】

The world of cultivation.

Sensing the change of the Corpse Soul Gu within, Yunhe silently sighs.

「Hu—」

「Indeed worthy of the 'Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Art'; merely the entry into its fifth layer can bring such an increase in divine sense. 」

After checking the condition of the Corpse Soul Gu, Yunhe closes his eyes again and silently begins to circulate the cultivation method within his body.

A smile appears on his face.

Originally he wanted to first finish investigating the situation of the Heavenly Pool within Yun Chou Mountain, then leave and return to Huanhu Dao to break through.

But this time it lacked the previous violence, instead condensing in midair into numerous weapons that look extremely solid—swords, spears, halberds.

Fortunately, aside from some struggling while devouring, the Corpse Soul Gu shows no signs of losing control or being affected.

「Finally got started. 」

In the Ice Immortal Pavilion, within Yunhe's cultivation cave-abode.

Recently, the Cultivator Body side has had more troubles, so he has devoted more attention to the Cultivator Body itself.

Those sounds seem to emanate from its mouth.

【But we must seize the time. After all, it's an upper-realm gu worm; if that upper-realm fellow senses it, we'll have to 'annihilate' it.】

After breaking through to mid Fourth Level, his strength greatly increases; even when facing a late Fourth Level demon beast he gains some self-preservation and response abilities, after which he can think of ways to enter the Heavenly Pool to explore a bit.

Earlier Yunhe had buried several seeds among the spirit turtles of Yun Chou Mountain, roughly learning the situation inside the Heavenly Pool, but the secrets of the Heavenly Pool are clearly not accessible to those few third-level spirit turtles.

Of course, the hardship endured during this period is not small either.

Each practice of the Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Art is a considerable ordeal for divine sense and spirit.

However, after practicing this art for many years, Yunhe has grown somewhat accustomed to it.

After entry, his divine sense, which had not changed for a long time, again shows growth.

Originally Yunhe's divine sense was already comparable to that of a late Nascent Soul cultivator; this is why he can fight late Nascent Soul cultivators without falling behind, and even when facing sea clans with relatively weak divine sense, he can still gain a certain advantage.

And now.

His divine sense has already surpassed the vast majority of late Nascent Soul cultivators!

「He estimates that the distance to the divine sense of a perfected Nascent Soul cultivator may still be a bit, but he can surpass most late Nascent Soul cultivators lacking special divine sense」

「According to such estimates, perhaps upon cultivating the fifth layer to minor accomplishment, his divine sense can match a perfected Nascent Soul cultivator; achieving major accomplishment might even offer a chance to break through the Nascent Soul level divine sense bottleneck! 」

Yunhe's eyes became increasingly bright.

His spiritual sense spread out once again.

Invisible ripples radiated outward from him in all directions.

This time the formation of the cave abode posed no obstruction whatsoever.

His spiritual sense quickly enveloped the entire Ice Immortal Pavilion.

Within the Ice Immortal Pavilion, cultivators wandering the halls and towers, Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators moving about, and Yuan Ying cultivators in secluded cave abodes of all sizes, failed to notice any trace of his spiritual sense.

Even the formations, being low‑rank and belonging to the Ice Immortal Pavilion, failed to detect his spiritual sense.

Even a mid‑stage Yuan Ying cultivator could not detect his current spiritual sense, showing that his spiritual sense has surpassed the late‑stage Yuan Ying level!

At this moment, in a side hall of the Ice Immortal Pavilion.

"Zhang Daoist friend, have you heard? In recent times, on our battlefield, a demonic path loose cultivator named 'Gu Yan' appeared; although only early Yuan Ying, his strength is considerable, and he directly beheaded a sea clan elder!"

"Gu Yan? This poor Daoist has never heard of that name." Zhang Ding Tian smoothed his Dao robe, his eyes slightly opening a slit.

Opposite the table sat a middle-aged cultivator wearing a dark purple robe; he had early Yuan Ying cultivation, his eyes most peculiar—one eye was grayish-white, as if blind, yet faintly flowed with special magical power.

His name is Shi Pei, the master of the 'Heavenly Heart Observatory' ten thousand li away from Wu State, known as the 'Dark-Eye Daoist'.

It is said he was born blind in one eye, yet that eye can see the 'ghosts' invisible to ordinary people; after entering the Heavenly Heart Observatory to cultivate Dao, he is currently the sole early Yuan Ying cultivator there, and also counts as a member of the 'Dao Alliance'.

Back when Yunhe fought fiercely outside the Ice Immortal Pavilion against the Qi Scale Long Lan, this person was one of the early Yuan Ying cultivators who personally witnessed it.

"These days, loose cultivators popping up are no longer few." Shi Pei stood, poured Zhang Ding Tian a cup of tea, and smiled: "Even though you, Daoist Yun, are now famous, over a hundred years ago, did you, Zhang Daoist friend, ever hear the name of Daoist Yun?"

Zhang Ding Tian was startled, then shook his head, lifted the teacup, took a small sip, and softly sighed:

"In chaotic times, heroes emerge."

He then looked at Shi Pei and asked: "Daoist Shi, you sought me out to speak of this—what do you mean?"

Shi Pei chuckled: "Since he is a loose cultivator with decent cultivation and strength, why not we try to recruit him?"

"A demonic cultivator." Zhang Ding Tian narrowed his eyes.

Regarding this, Shi Pei said nothing; the two merely stared at each other in silence.

Nowadays, with the human cultivators' alliance formed, what difference remains between the orthodox path, the demonic path, or even the demonic beast path?

According to the current rules of the 'Dao Alliance', if one can recruit a Yuan Ying cultivator to join, the recruiter will receive a considerable reward.

Although Shi Pei and Zhang Ding Tian cultivate Dao, cultivating Dao comes after cultivating immortality, which requires vast resources; this is also why Zhang Ding Tian is willing to become an offering to the four major merchant alliances.

Cultivators seeking profit—there's nothing wrong with that.

Yunhe withdrew his divine sense.

He didn't really care about their exchange.

Because this was precisely one of the effects he intended to create.

Since the 'Dao Alliance' has taken interest in recruiting his external incarnation, it stands to reason that the 'Weapon Alliance', the 'Demon Alliance', and even the 'Five Metropolises' are likewise.

"Then in some places, we must completely sever ties with the external incarnation."

This too was already part of his plan.

Yunhe slightly furrowed his brow.

The fifth layer of the Thousand Insects Myriad Worms Technique counts as an entry-level practice.

But wanting to cultivate this technique to minor accomplishment, let alone major accomplishment, is no easy feat.

"'Sea Tear Pearl, Merfolk'"

Yunhe murmured softly.

From the fragmentary memories of the Heavenly Insect Ancestor, we learned that among the Heavenly Insect Sect's cultivators, it is not guaranteed that anyone will reach the fifth layer even after thousands of years.

This is because cultivating the fifth layer of the Thousand Insects Myriad Worms Technique requires a special rare material called the 'Sea Tear Pearl'.

It is said the 'Sea Tear Pearl' is the merfolk's heart pearl, possessing the function of tempering divine sense and refining will.

But it also carries considerable side effects; for those whose resolve is not firm enough, the 'Sea Tear Pearl' may affect them, inviting inner demons!

"No wonder even the Heavenly Insect Ancestor never cultivated this technique to the fifth layer."

Of course, when the Thousand Insects Myriad Worms Technique was first created, practitioners did not need this 'Sea Tear Pearl' material.

Because the cultivator who created the Thousand Insects Myriad Worms Technique inherently had a divine sense unlike ordinary people.

However, later generations cannot imitate his unique divine sense, so they chose to use the 'Sea Tear Pearl' as an aid in cultivation; yet this also caused the fifth layer and the subsequent layers of this technique to see a sharp increase in difficulty and a geometric rise in risk.

And Yunhe, because his divine sense is inherently unique—a fusion of human and demon beast divine sense—naturally possesses a stronger divine sense, especially after his cultivation in the Demon Beast Body has repeatedly broken through.

Thus, he also qualifies as having the trait of 'innately strong divine sense'.

Therefore, even without the 'Sea Tear Pearl', he can still cultivate this technique—it's just this cultivation speed.

After all, he is not truly one of those born with exceptionally strong divine sense.

If one wishes to increase cultivation speed, it is best to combine the 'Sea Tear Pearl' treasure as an auxiliary aid.

This is also why the Heavenly Insect Ancestor, despite many years, could only cultivate the Thousand Insects Myriad Worms Technique to the fourth layer.

"'The risk is not small; the inner demons need not be feared overly—what matters is that this treasure called the 'Sea Tear Pearl' is hard to find.'"

If it were easy to find, then the Heavenly Insect Sect would not have gone thousands of years without anyone reaching the fifth layer, nor would the Corpse Insect Plague have caused the entire sect's destruction.

Merfolk, considered a being between humans and demon beasts, were nearly wiped out in the ancient times' myriad-clan war; nowadays, not even a sighting occurs.

"'Merfolk.'"

Yunhe murmured.

The immortal cultivation world may indeed be hard to find, but the demon beast world is not necessarily so.

He can recall that his Demon Beast Body once was on Huanhu Dao, where he seemed to have faintly seen traces of merfolk.

Moreover.

"'In the deepest part of the Endless Sea, it is not necessarily true that no merfolk survive.'"

Speaking of which.

The merfolk and the sea tribe actually share considerable common ground.

"No need to rush—after all, I'm not completely unable to cultivate."

Trying to find a merperson that no one has seen for thousands of years—how easy could that be?

Better to wait until the Demon Beast Body finishes the affairs of Cloud Sorrow Mountain, then return to Huanhu Dao before trying to look for traces of the merpeople.

"It's also time to refine this magic treasure again."

"Pfft!"

Yunhe unfurled a pair of snow-white wings behind his back, and sparkling white frost immediately appeared inside the cave dwelling.

As he formed a hand seal, the pair of wings that seemed to grow on his back shrank and fell into his hand.

Immediately after, he turned his wrist.

Then another pair of light-blue wings, like those of a hawk, hovered above his palm.

Those were precisely the wings of the Wind-Swallowing Beast.

"Wind and snow also complement each other; I believe they can further enhance its power and speed."

The ice attribute is not particularly conducive to flight; the Ice Phoenix Wings achieve such speed purely because the pair of Ice Phoenix Wings used to forge them are of extremely high quality, and Yunhe may not have fully tapped their potential.

Speaking of flight, wind and lightning attributes are undoubtedly the most conducive to flight.

I don't know whether the Wind-Swallowing Beast's wings can let me further tap the potential of this pair of Ice Phoenix Wings.

Yunhe cast two levitation techniques, suspending the two pairs of wings before him.

Then he waved his hand.

A large amount of materials then appeared before him.

He exhaled through his nose.

Infant fire flew out.

Wrapping the Wind-Swallowing Beast's wings.

Under the glow of the infant fire, the wings' color seemed to change, and strands of residual light-blue demonic power were burned away.

In the continual refinement, the blue wings seemed to melt entirely, dropping bead-like particles like pearls or water droplets, which slowly turned into a puddle of viscous liquid.

Next, this liquid was poured onto the Ice Phoenix's pair of wings.

Refining such a level of magic treasure is not something that can be done overnight.

The originally somewhat noisy cultivation chamber returned to calm once again, leaving only the 'hiss-hiss' sound of burning.

(End of chapter)